Who Am I
by CrystalAlchemist
Summary: A young shinobi wakes up without any memory of who she is or where she is from. She is brought to the Hidden Leaf village, and as she searches for her lost memories she discovers things she might not have wanted to know, and may end up changing the shinobi world forever. KakashixOC I'm trying to add all the characters, but I'm not giving away other pairings. Read to find out!
1. Chapter 1

I didn't remember anything. I didn't know who I was, or why I awoke in the middle of a dirt road, wearing tattered, dirty clothes and holding a knife. It was dark, nighttime.

A few hazy memories resurfaced as my eyes opened, looking up at the tree branches above me. Men surrounding me, holding swords and knives. I remembered them circling me, running at me, where I stood all alone, unable to defend myself against so many of them…

Who was I?

I stood up, feeling an intense pain stab me in the shoulder. I grasped at it, and felt that my skin was sticky with blood. A deep gash stood out on my shoulder, and taking a step it felt like my ankle was pretty messed up too. My head hurt. I began to walk forward slowly, painfully, gripping the kunai knife in my hand. Maybe I could find my home, if I was able to walk far enough…

Voices reached my ears and I stopped, panicking. How could I fight against anyone right now?

"I hear someone nearby. It one of ours?"

"No, I see them. They aren't wearing the headband."

"Let's check it out."

I couldn't see anyone, how was I able to hear them?

Abruptly, six figures jumped out of the shadows of the trees, standing before me in the road. Despite the darkness I could see that they were dressed in black, with gray vests, wearing strange white masks that looked like they had animal faces on them. Who the hell—?

"Who are you?" one of them asked me.

I blinked. I wished I knew how to answer him. But I sensed danger from these guys, and I gripped my kunai, taking a step away. I had to get out of here. But how could I when I was barely able to move?

"We should take her to Konoha," one of the masked guys said. They had a name…what were these people called, and where had I seen them before?

"Right," another one of them said, and then they were coming towards me. They were fast.

But the moment I realized I was in danger, my body jumped into action and I jumped backwards, my instincts kicking in. The pain faded and I gripped my kunai, bringing it up to meet the blade of one of my attackers. I kicked him in the chest, sending him sailing backwards, then whirled around, blocking the attack of another enemy.

I landed on my bad leg, and pain shot through it. Abruptly the adrenaline faded and the pain returned to my body, worse than before. Someone caught me from behind, and the energy left my legs. I crumpled to the ground, consciousness fading away.

"Her chakra…" one of them muttered as I fell into oblivion. "Who is this girl?"

Hope you liked it! The next chapter is longer. Please read and review! Thanks!


	2. Chapter 2

Blood. Blood everywhere. Ninja fought all around me, and I was fighting along all of them, just a tool of the shinobi world, everyone around me just using me for my powers. My powers…which were…

And then I was running along a dirt path, trying desperately to make it away from someone…suddenly I was surrounded by people, wearing masks, holding knives. I stood there, waiting for them to come at me, but knowing that I was outnumbered, that I wasn't strong enough, that it was too late…

I woke up, lying in a warm bed, wearing clean clothes, my arm bandaged and my leg no longer in pain. My head still hurt a little, but I felt much better than I had before.

I was in a hospital, that much was obvious. I sat up, grimacing. Where was I?

Fortunately, a source of information walked in the door several minutes later. She was a petite girl wearing a white nurses uniform, her hair a bizarre shade of pink. She seemed around sixteen.

She smiled at me as she walked inside. "Hi," she said. "I'm Sakura Haruno. I was asked to come in and take a look at you."

I blinked. "Um…hi. Can you tell me where I am?"

She giggled. "Right, of course. You're in Konoha, the village hidden in the leaves."

Konoha…why did that name sound so familiar?

Sakura sat next to me and touched her hands to my shoulder, closing her eyes as though concentrating. My eyes widened as her hands began to glow with a green light.

Chakra. That was what it was called.

The light glowed for several moments, and then she opened her eyes, nodding. "Your arm is almost totally healed. Now, let's check out your leg, and your head…"

Once she'd deemed my wounds healed—or mostly healed—she stood up, smiling at me. "Get dressed, okay? The Hokage wants to meet with you once you're feeling better."

"The Hokage?"

"Lady Tsunade." She folded her arms. "Can you tell me what your name is? I mean, do you remember anything?"

I shook my head sadly. "I don't know anything about myself."

"I thought as much," Sakura said. She talked as though speaking to herself. "You look older than me, nineteen, twenty maybe? No, probably older.…Your head has been injured, but I think your memory loss might have been the result of a jutsu. The ANBU officers who found you said you had a powerful chakra, too. Are you a shinobi?"

"Yes," I said, my voice sounding surprised, even to me. "That much I do know."

Sakura frowned, looking thoughtful. "Okay, well, I have to go," she said, her voice bright again. "Someone will be in here soon to escort you to the Hokage's room soon."

As I dressed in simple white clothes, I tried to remember my past, without any luck. Everything from the past few years was a complete blank. Only vague images remained, things I couldn't make out.

I looked in the mirror, at my messy dark brown hair and tanned, rough skin, silvery eyes with golden specks hidden within them. The face was familiar, but it didn't tell me who I was.

A knock sounded at my door, which opened, revealing a tall man wearing navy clothes, a green vest and a metal headband with a strange insignia on it. "Who are you?" I asked. His Chakra didn't feel dangerous, but…

"Name's Iruka," he said. He smiled. He looked friendly enough, with brown hair in a ponytail, and a scar across his nose and light, easygoing chakra—was he here to bring me to the Hokage?

"I was asked to escort you to Lady Tsunade," he said, confirming my suspicions. "Come with me."

We didn't speak much as we walked through the village. It was a beautiful place, really, full of life, with people everywhere who all looked lively and happy. It was so familiar, but I didn't know why.

"Up ahead, that's where the Hokage is," Iruka said, pointing.

The building was bright red and circular, with the Japanese symbol for "fire" on it. It was imposing as we approached it, and I swallowed hard as I gazed ahead. "So what is this Lady Tsunade like?" I asked Iruka, hoping he was kind enough to answer my questions.

"She's a good woman," he said. "Strong. Fiery. Perfect for the Land of Fire," he said with a laugh. "But don't insult her or get her temper up, because she's dangerous when she's angry.

"The Land of Fire?" I asked. That sounded familiar too.

"There are four other Kages that govern the other lands: the Tschukage, the Kazekage, the Raikage, and the Mizukage. You know all this already, though, don't you?"

I nodded slowly. It all sounded familiar, and the rest of it was coming back to me. "Are you a shinobi too, Iruka?"

He smiled and pointed to his headband with his thumb, a piece of rectangular metal centered on a navy blue piece of cloth. "Yep. Ninja of the hidden leaf, as you can see from the symbol on my headband."

As I stared at his headband, another memory resurfaced. A headband, the symbol of the hidden leaf, something about lightning-

I stopped walking. Iruka looked back, frowning. "Is something wrong?" he asked.

I shook my head, shaking off the memories for now, and we continued on.

Iruka knocked on a door within the building. "Lady Tsunade?" he said, opening it.

He went inside, and I followed apprehensively. The office was circular like the building, with books and papers everywhere, the far wall covered in windows, in front of which was a desk. A woman sat behind it, looking up when we entered.

There was another man in the room, also, who turned around when we entered. He wore the same clothes as Iruka, his Hidden Leaf headband covering his left eye, and a mask covering the lower half of his face. He had silver hair, and his chakra felt…powerful.

A jolt went through me. He seemed familiar, somehow, like lots of other things here. Where had I seen him before?

"Ah," the woman behind the desk said. She was beautiful, with an air of authority. Her hair was long and blond and as she stood up I could see that though she had a big chest—lucky—her waist was small and her face was young, with a small diamond mark on her forehead. "Iruka. Good, I see you brought the mysterious young woman the ANBU brought in."

"Yep, this is her," Iruka confirmed. I stepped tentatively toward Tsunade's desk, standing next to the strange silver-haired man, who, though looking mostly indifferent, had intelligent curiosity in his gaze as he looked down at me.

I bowed to the woman behind the desk. "Lady Hokage."

Tsunade raised her eyebrows. "You know who I am, then?"

"Kind of." I straightened. "I don't really remember anything, but I do know who you are. I recognize the village, too."

"Are you from Konoha?" she asked.

I shook my head. "I don't know. I don't…I don't believe so."

She nodded. "Your chakra…it's powerful. I believe that your memories will return in time, and in the meantime, I'll put you on one of our squads to test your abilities."

I frowned. Test?

"In order to find out who you are and what you can do," she said. "Well then…what do you think, Kakashi?" She looked at the silver-haired man.

He shrugged. "It's fine with me. I'll take care of her."

"Good. Then that's settled." She sat down. "Take her on the mission I've assigned your squad, but make sure she doesn't get into trouble. Her chakra interests me…I'm eager to see how she'll manage."

"Of course, my Lady," Kakashi said, bowing. He turned to me. "Come with me. I'll introduce you to the others on the squad."

We left the Hokage's building and entered the village again. Kakashi, I learned quickly, wasn't much of a talker either, and we walked in silence. I took the opportunity to examine the village more, trying to pinpoint what about it felt familiar.

"Ah, there's Naruto and Sakura," Kakashi said suddenly, pointing.

I looked where he was pointing abruptly. Sakura? Sakura Haruno?

"Hey, Kakashi-Sensei!" The spiky blond-haired kid wearing an orange and black jumpsuit, probably sixteen also—Naruto, I assumed—caught sight of us and grabbed Sakura's arm, running toward us. "Who's that you're with?"

They reached us and Sakura smiled at me. "Hey, you're that girl I met earlier today," she said. "You're looking better."

I smiled back. "Yeah. Much better. Thanks."

"This is the girl you were talking about? The one that the ANBU brought in?" Naruto said. He looked at me, his eyes wide. "Whoa…" His expression was almost amazed, and I felt my face heat up as he stared at me. His chakra was bright, happy, but at the same time…I sensed incredible power within him. This was no normal kid.

"Naruto, stop staring!" Sakura said, hitting him in the head. I flinched.

Sakura looked at Kakashi. "So what are _you_ doing with her, Kakashi-Sensei?" she asked, exchanging a look with Naruto.

"She'll be joining our squad for now," Kakashi said. "Lady Tsunade just assigned us a new mission, and she'll be coming with us."

"A new mission?" Naruto said, brightening immediately. "All right! I've been dying to get out of the village!"

"Hold on there, Naruto," Kakashi said. "We won't leave for another few days. In the meantime, show this girl around the village. I'll fill you in on all the details of the mission tomorrow morning." He raised two fingers, and in a puff of smoke, disappeared.

Sakura sighed. "That's our Sensei," she sighed.

Naruto looked at me. He grinned. "So, what's your name?" he asked me.

I opened my mouth to tell him that I didn't know, but a different word fell out of my mouth: "Ayume."

"Ayume?" Sakura said. "That's your name?"

"Yes…" I frowned. "Ayume…Ayume Shizuko."

"I'm Naruto Uzumaki," Naruto said with another grin. "The next great Hokage!"

I blinked. "Next…huh?"

Sakura rolled her eyes. "Don't listen to him," she said. She smiled and took my arm. "Let's take a tour of the village, shall we?"

I couldn't help smiling back. It was like I had real comrades now. It felt good to have people to lean on when I was so confused.


	3. Chapter 3

In the morning, after a night of exploring the village, meeting other ninja and eating Ichiraku ramen, I woke up to a knock at my door. Sakura stood in the doorway, smiling at me. "Morning," she said brightly. She handed me several objects. "I brought you fresh clothes and some weapons—though I hope you know some ninjutsu."

I shrugged, taking the stuff. "Probably. Thanks." I hesitated as I held the things in my arms. "Listen…are you sure I should be going with you all when I don't know any of my powers? I'll probably just drag you down."

Sakura shook her head. "No, don't worry. Kakashi-Sensei is a Jonin and Naruto and I are both Chunin—well, _I'm_ a Chunin, and Naruto…" She broke off. "Anyway, the point is that together we'll be fine, and we don't leave for a few days anyway. It will give you an opportunity to meet some of the others in the village. And besides, how else will you figure out what your powers are?"

"Right…" I said. "If you're sure."

I dressed in the new clothes—simple black pants and a gray shirt—had a quick breakfast, and then secured my weapons to my body. I decided, upon leaving the place I'd been staying, that I'd practice a little before leaving to get my skills back up.

So I began exploring the village a bit more, looking for a quiet place to stop and train. Eventually, weaving my way through the busy streets I managed to find a secluded spot within the trees—a small training ground, with targets for shooting kunai.

I took some weapons out of my bag and began practicing, throwing shurriken and kunai knives at the targets and trying to hit them dead on each time. It took a while to reach my usual skill level-initially my knife points hit pretty far from the center. Eventually, however, I began to get the hang of it again and was able to hit moving targets as well.

Pleased, I began instead to work on my chakra control. That was something I was never very good at, and it took a great deal of exertion for me to make my chakra do exactly what I wanted. Manipulating Chakra was like stretching a flimsy rubber band with chopsticks-difficult to get a proper hold on, stretched too far and it would snap.

I began simply by bringing the chakra to the soles of my feet and using it to stick my feet to trees so that I could climb up them. This wasn't a difficult exercise, but it certainly helped when working on chakra control.

After nine consecutive tries I'd finally managed to make it to the top of the tallest tree in sight, and I dropped to the ground on one knee, breathing hard. I smiled. Maybe I could work on my ninjutsu next.

"Hey, you're Ayume, right?" a voice called. I stood up and looked around. A boy around my age was walking with Naruto and Sakura up towards me wearing the green vest of the leaf. He had a big head, his dark brown hair tied into a tight ponytail that stuck straight out at the back of his head. His eyes were dark and piercing, but were shadowed by his expression of perpetual boredom.

"This is Shikamaru," said Sakura. "He's on team ten."

"This is Ayume Shizuko," said Nauto. "The girl we told you about earlier. Isn't she pretty?"

I flushed, glaring at him and trying not to get flustered. Shikamaru gave me a probing look for a moment, then said, "Nice to meet you, Shizuko. You're a shinobi, right?"

I nodded. "Nice to meet you too."

"Training?" Naruto asked, eyeing the kunai in my hand.

"Yeah," I said. "I was climbing trees to work up my chakra control, but what I really need to do is work up my ninjutsu."

"We did that training a long time ago too," Naruto said, exchanging smiles with Sakura. "Well, I don't know much about ninjutsu, but we could always face off against you to hone your taijutsu." He grinned. "How 'bout it, Shikamaru, Sakura?"

Sakura smiled, but Shikamaru sighed, rolling his eyes. "Fine. How troublesome."

Shikamaru wasn't the most skilled fighter, but I could tell that he was intelligent just from the brief encounter that I'd had with him. He was more the steategist type.

By late afternoon we decided to quit. I had some dinner and went to bed early, and over the next few days I spent, once again, lots of time on the training grounds, but also a lot of time simply walking around the village. I felt oddly at home here, even though my gut told me that this village wasn't actually my home.

Nevertheless, I felt so...safe here. I had a strange sense of protection that I couldn't place.

I met all of the "Rookie nine," the nine young ninja of Naruto's generation, and ended up having a dinner of barbecue pork with them one night. I sat between Sakura and a guy named Chouji, who seemed able to eat all the pork all by himself, and no one looked at me strangely, no one treated me as though I was anything less than one of them.

I felt a wonderful sense of belonging. If only I'd known then how short-lived it would be.

I met up with Naruto, Kakashi and Sakura at the front gate a week later, early in the morning, all packed and ready to go on a mission.

"All right!" Naruto said once he saw me, looking excited. "Let's _go_!"

Kakashi sighed. "Sure, Naruto, unless you'd like to know where we're actually going…"

"Oh yeah," Naruto said, blinking. Sakura giggled behind her hand. Kakashi smiled—or, I think he did. His mouth was covered by his mask, but his one visible eye closed in a way that suggested a smile. I didn't really know what to think of him. His smile reminded me of something…why was this guy so familiar?

"So, we're traveling to a village in the Land of Fire to escort a very important person to the Hidden Smoke Village in the Land of Air."

"Who?" Naruto asked.

"You'll see," he replied. Naruto folded his arms, pouting. "Now then," Kakashi said. "Any questions?"

"Is Sai coming with us?" Sakura asked.

Kakashi shook his head. "But he, Yamato, and Gai's team are ready to back us up." I thought for a minute and remembered Gai's team as Tenten, Neji, and Rock Lee, though I didn't remember much about any of them.

"Why would we need backup?" Naruto asked as we began heading away from the village. "Is the mission dangerous?"

"Well…" Kakashi's gaze shifted to the sky. "It's an A-rank mission, because this person we're escorting has a lot of enemies. Supposedly there are a great deal of people after them."

"Why?" asked Sakura.

"I'm not sure." Kakashi frowned like this troubled him. "The Land of Air…they're not exactly friendly, particularly with other villages. The last time I was there…" he shook his head and fell silent.

We continued on, and even as the afternoon passed by, Naruto's spirits didn't drop. He continued on happily, looking perfectly cheerful to still be walking after hours. It was late afternoon when we finally reached the village we were looking for.

Kakashi seemed to know where to go. He knocked on the door of a tall house, and a man answered it quickly, looking wary.

"Shinobi from the Hidden Leaf, here to escort…uh…someone!" Naruto said brightly.

"Shh!" the man said, glaring. "Come inside, quickly."

He led us in through the house, and into a room where a young woman stood, wearing white robes, her black hair in crown-like braids around her head. She turned to look at us. "Are these the shinobi you sent to escort me home?" she asked, her voice high-pitched.

"Back to the Hidden Smoke village, yes, Priestess," the man said.

"Priestess?" said Sakura.

"Yes," the woman said. She inclined her head, looking at us proudly. "I am Katsumi, the Priestess of the Land of Air. You will escort me back home safely." The woman looked straight at me, and her eyes flashed. "I trust you all are ready to protect me with your lives."

Anger stirred inside me as she looked at me. I knew this woman. She was so proud, like she owned the world. But it wasn't just that which made me angry as I looked at her.

"All right, then," Kakashi said. "Then if you're prepared, Priestess Katsumi…"

"Yes, of course." She left the room, with the man calling after her: "Be careful, Priestess! Have a safe journey!"

We left the village, people's eyes following us as we went so that I felt rather self-conscious. They probably watched us because the Priestess was wearing clothes that were so lovely when everyone else was wearing simple, worn clothing. Katsumi kind of stood out, but she seemed proud of it, holding her head high as she walked. I tried not to glare at her, because something about her drove me nuts.

We finally made it out of the village, and I gave a sigh of relief even though it meant we were in more danger.

But there was no danger at the moment. For the first hour or so nothing of importance happened, and I began to let down my guard, as Naruto and Sakura seemed to. They joked around as we walked along a rushing river, trying to jog my memory.

"You must have been on missions before," Sakura said to me. "With other shinobi, maybe?"

I frowned. "I think maybe. I remember fighting a few times, usually with other people, but…" I shrugged. "I can't remember any specific missions."

"What about justu? Do you know any cool jutsu?" Naruto asked eagerly.

I scratched my head. "Yeah. There's one jutsu I remember…a special jutsu…something to do with…" Water, maybe? Or…

"Never mind," I said after a minute of digging without any luck. "I guess I don't really know any special jutsu. What about you guys?"

"Uh, well, the rasengan…" Naruto said. He grinned. "Just wait until you see it in action—it's awesome!"

"Oh, cool," I said. "Um, what's—" I broke off at the sound of a rustling in the trees.

Before I even had time to think, two ninja had leapt out of the trees straight toward us through the air. I gasped, taking a step back, and Naruto and Sakura both jolted to a stop, looking shocked. We were all unprepared, and none of us moved as the ninja came toward us. My battle instincts…where were they?

Why weren't they kicking in?


	4. Chapter 4

"Get down!" Kakashi shouted from behind us.

The three of us ducked and two kunai flew over our heads, hitting the two shinobi directly in the chests, who fell to the ground and didn't move.

Kakashi suddenly appeared in front of us, stance ready, kunai in hand. "You all let your guards down," he said. "Stay ready. There are more."

I grabbed a kunai, holding it in one hand, and no sooner had I taken hold of it than I heard more rustling behind us. Behind the Priestess.

We whirled around just as shurriken went flying towards Katsumi. But Kakashi was quick. Creating hand signs faster than I could read, he slammed his hands into the ground and a wall of earth rose out of the ground before the Priestess, stopping the shurriken.

"Naruto, Sakura!" he commanded.

"Right!" they both called back, and jumped into action, engaging two of the three shinobi.

"Ayume," Kakashi said to me. "Stays here and protect the Priestess, all right?"

Without waiting for an answer he leapt across the wall to join the other two in battle. Watching them fight…waiting to fight…this was all so familiar…

However, they weren't fighting long before a new voice said from behind me, "Ah, Priestess…it's been a long time since I've seen your beautiful face."

Abruptly, the fighting all stopped. The two shinobi that the others had been fighting leapt away and I whirled around, facing the new ninja, along with the others that had just joined him. This new ninja was a tall man with long hair that was white as paper, his skin almost whiter. In contrast he wore all black, and one side of his face was heavily bandaged. I gripped my kunai, sensing menacing, dangerous chakra from him.

Kakashi, Naruto and Sakura joined me. The man's eyes looked over all of us, lingering on me for a moment. A shiver swept through me.

Then he looked at Kakashi, and smiled slightly. "Ah…Kakashi Hatake. Son of the White Fang. It's good to see you again."

"It's been a long time… Jirou." Kakashi responded coldly. "But this isn't time to reminisce. You're going to have to let us through to the Land of Air."

"Yeah, so you'd better move away or we'll beat you into the ground!" Naruto said.

He smirked. "Overconfident. No, I don't think you'll be going through." He looked at the other ninja. "Haru, Matsuda…"

"Yes, master," they said in unison, a female voice and a male voice. They removed their masks and drew swords, and Kakashi caught his breath beside me. "Damn it," he muttered. "All three of them…" He sighed and raised his hand to his headband, pushing it up off his eyes. What—his eye…?

His left eye had a scar going down it, and for a moment I wondered if that was why he kept it covered. But then he opened it, and I gasped. His eye was red, with black dots in a circle within it…what the hell—?

"Ah yes, the Sharingan," Jirou said. "An Uchiha hand-me-down, isn't it? Interesting…"

"Sharingan?" I whispered. Then I gasped. I remembered—the elite Uchiha clan! But how had Kakashi gotten hold of a Sharingan eye?

"Ready, you three?" Kakashi muttered. He glared at the enemy. The look of abrupt determination in his eyes was almost frightening. If I were facing him I would have run in fear.

"Yeah," Naruto said, grinning eagerly. He put two fingers together in a cross shape. "Let's do it. _Shadow Clone Jutsu_!" A dozen Naruto replicas came into existence around him. How was he able to make so many that easily?

The enemy made the first move, running at us, and that was when my battle reflexes finally kicked in.

I pushed off the ground, jumping into the air, and met the blade of one of the enemy shinobi—Matsuda, I think his name was. He grinned at me, attacking with his sword, but I saw every move he made and stopped them all with ease.

Meanwhile, I could see the Priestess standing below us, gazing up as we fought, her expression indifferent. Didn't she _care_ that we were fighting for _her_ survival?

Forget about that. I landed on the ground and launched myself at the shinobi, trying to hit him square in the chest with my knife. He blocked my attacks, and I blocked his, and for a moment we seemed at a standoff, until I lunged and my knife embedded in his stomach.

For a split second I thought I'd defeated him, but then with a puff of smoke, he disappeared. Damn it—a shadow clone!

"You're mine!"

I whirled around, and the real Matsuda was running toward me, brandishing his sword.

"_Rasengan_!"

A figure collided with Matsuda's side. Naruto had launched himself at the enemy, a blue swirling ball of light in his one hand that hit Matsuda in the side, sending him crashing into the ground. There was a blast of light.

Naruto stood up, breathing heavily but looking pleased. "How about that?" he said.

"Impressive," I said. I looked over as Sakura landed beside us. "Haru?"

"Unconscious," Sakura said. "Badly hurt. He'll recover, but he's out of our hair for now."

Which meant there was only one enemy left, and at the moment he was at a standoff with Kakashi, the two of their blades pressed together, both of them trying to get past the other's defenses.

"Kakashi-Sensei—" Naruto said.

"The three of you stay back for now," his voice calm but authoritative. "I'll handle this one. You protect the Priestess."

Obediently the three of us stepped to stand in front of the Priestess, kunai ready.

"You really think you can defeat me?" Jirou said with a sneer. "Do not forget the last time we met."

The two of them jumped backwards simultaneously and faced each other, gripping their weapons. "I haven't forgotten," Kakashi said. "Believe me. And I haven't forgotten your weakness, either."

He made several hand signs, then gripped his wrist, and within his hand chakra started to build, until he was holding what looked like lightning, arching away from his palm.

He ran at Jirou, raising his arm to strike, but Jirou dodged and whirled around, striking Kakashi in the back. I gasped and took a step forward, but Sakura held out her arm. "Just watch."

Kakashi's figure exploded into smoke. "A shadow clone?" I said. "But when did he…?"

In an instant, Kakashi appeared behind Jirou, wielding the Chidori once again—he was fast.

He swung at Jirou, but Jirou managed to jump out of the way, his hands coming up and making hand signs to create a jutsu.

Kakashi didn't seem to miss a thing—was it the sharingan? He turned and faced Jirou, jumping backwards, his hands immediately copying the exact signs that Jirou was making.

"_Water style—water dragon jutsu_!" they both said at the same time.

Water rose out of the river and I took a step back, my eyes widening. Their jutsus—huge, swirling forms made out of water—collided in midair, and the liquid sprayed everywhere. I raised my arms, trying to shield my head from the rain coming down.

The commotion died down, and I made out Jirou standing on the river, not moving. He took a deep breath, visibly, and took a step forward.

Then he froze. Instantly Kakashi appeared behind him, his arm grabbing him in a headlock, and his kunai embedded itself in his back. Jirou's eyes widened, the shock and pain breaking through his calm exterior.

"You've lost your touch, Jirou," Kakashi said. "You seem to have forgotten that I can read your every move before you make it."

"The one who used that justu…" Jirou said. "A shadow clone…Hm. I see you haven't lost _your_ touch, eh, Kakashi?"

I blinked. "Amazing. I didn't even see him…" This man…he was _good_.

"Naruto!" Kakashi called. "Finish him off!"

I looked over and noticed that Naruto was already gone, and Sakura and I were the only ones guarding the Priestess.

"I'm on it!" Naruto suddenly appeared in the air, flying down towards Jirou, rasengan in hand. But the rasengan was _huge_. Naruto needed two shadow clones just to hold onto it.

"_Super rasengan_!" he shouted.

Just before the rasengan connected, I saw Jirou smirk. "You think it will be that easy?"

His figure dissolved into water. A water clone. Naruto's rasengan hit the river, and there was a huge explosion. "Incredible. That power—where does he get that power?" I gasped as more water flew everywhere.

Sakura looked over at me. "Uh…"

Jirou was gone. Where was he?

His figure then appeared, but not before Naruto and Kakashi. He was facing the Priestess, and not long after he appeared several more versions of him appeared, creating a wall blocking us.

All of the Jirou figures raised their hands. "_Fire style—searing migrane!_"

"No!" I heard Kakashi shout, but he and Naruto were too far away to help. I had to do something—but what?

As I watched the fire coming toward us, something inside me snapped. I jumped to stand directly in front of the Princess, then raised my hands, my body acting on its own. Somehow I knew what I had to do.

The fire hit my hands, but the moment it touched my palms, the flames vanished, and the jutsu began to change. The fire, when I touched it, turned to ice, crackling and hardening and creeping up the rest of the flames toward the figures of Jirou.

I squeezed my hands into fists, and the ice began to break, changing into slivers that were deadly sharp. I waved my hands and the ice shards flew towards Jirou, the fire gone, and the ice hitting Jirou like knives.

The figures that were shadow clones vanished on the spot, and then there was only one Jirou left, the real one. He stared at me in disbelief. "You…you're…"

I raised my hands, creating hand signs that just seemed to come to me. Jirou's eyes widened further, apparently seeing what jutsu I was about to use. "_Lightning style—flashing wave!_" The lightning came from my hands and arced across the water on the ground, straight towards Jirou, but when it hit him, the last figure disappeared into water. Another water clone.

I stood still, breathing heavily. Those last jutsu's had taken a lot of energy out of me, and…and…

Who was I?

My legs failed me. Kakashi's figure blurred and he appeared in front of me, catching me on his back as my eyes closed and I lost consciousness.


	5. Chapter 5

_"The hidden leaf village?"_

_"That's right, Konoha. You are the only one who can complete this task. Just beware, there is a Jinchuuriki there. He may not be especially skilled, but he has extreme amounts of power."_

_"A Jinchuuriki…I've never met one before. Will anyone else be going with me?"_

_"No. You will be going alone. This is your chance to prove yourself, and the ability to use your unique powers. If you can complete this task, I promise you will be moved up in the Force. Remember, you live to serve me and your other superiors. That is the sole use of your power."_

_Because that was all I was—a tool, something to be used by my country, by my village. So I would complete this task, and I would show what I was capable of._

_There was no other choice._

My eyes jolted open.

I was lying in a small room with wooden walls, in a small set of bedding on the wooden floor. I blinked, then bit down on my lip, sitting up. I drew my legs in and wrapping my arms around my knees.

I remembered now—I'd been sent to Konoha to complete a task for my village. I was part of my country's Force—like the ANBU in Konohakagure, the Force protected the Village's leaders, and its people as well. The tasks we had to complete to do so were sometimes awful, but it was our job. The Force was made up of people selected carefully because of the powers they had, and all we were meant to do was carry out our Higher's orders.

The power I had—the one that had appeared in the fight with Jirou—that was what had gotten me into the Force. But I didn't even know where that power had come from, or how I could tap into it again.

What had happened to Jirou, anyway? Had the other three defeated him? Were they okay?

I was about to get up and look for them when I heard voices from the other room.

"Kakashi, who is this woman?"

"I wish I knew for sure," I heard Kakashi sigh. But who was the other voice? "I knew she was a unique shinobi, but to have _that_ power…"

"Could she be the girl, the one you—"

"No. It's not possible. That girl was…if that was the case, why would the Land of Air…?" He sounding frustrated.

"It's possible that the power wasn't a true jutsu, isn't it?" I heard Sakura say. "I didn't see her make any hand signs…"

"It's most likely a more advanced form of change in chakra nature," Kakashi said thoughtfully. "Jirou knows of this power, too, he has to. That's the only reason he would have fled after she used it. I doubt the Priestess is the only person they were looking for."

I blinked. He was smart, too?

"In that case, are we going to be running into more enemies?" Naruto said nervously.

"Maybe," Kakashi sighed. "Good thing Yamato managed to make it out here with reinforcements."

"And team Gai is on its way as well," the same unfamiliar voice—Yamato, probably—said. "Though they'll probably meet up with us in the Land of Air."

"Right," Kakashi said. "Then, in the meantime we should—"

I slid open the door, and six pairs of eyes turned to look at me.

Standing with Kakashi's team was four people, one of whom I didn't recognize. One of them had short brown hair, deep-set eyes, and wore the same clothes as Kakashi, along with a metal headband that outlined his face.

Another was a girl, around Sakura's height with long, dark hair, a round face and strange eyes—large, white, without any pupils. I'd met her once, I knew this girl's name…

Then there were two boys, sixteen too, probably. One of them had pale white skin and dark hair, his face strangely expressionless. I didn't recognize him at all. The other had unruly dark hair and a mischievous kind of face, with red marks on the sides of his face. Next to him stood a huge white dog.

"You must be Ayume Shizuko," the man with the brown hair said. He smiled. "I'm Yamato, a Jonin from the Leaf Village. I brought along some shinobi to help your team out."

"Um…hi," the girl said, stepping forward. She smiled tentatively. "I'm Hinata—"

"Hyuuga," I said, my eyes widening. "I know of your clan. I met you earlier."

"O-oh," she said. "I didn't know…"

"I'm Kiba Inuzuka," one of the guys said, stepping forward and grinning at me. "I think we met before too." The dog next to him barked. "Oh yeah, and this is my ninja hound, Akamaru."

I looked at the pale boy. "So, who are you?"

He blinked at me, and then abruptly gave me a smile that seemed very forced. "Hello," he said. "My name is Sai. It's nice to meet you." He spoke like the words, too, didn't come naturally, and as a result they sounded rather insincere. I blinked at him. "Uh, yeah, nice to meet you too." I thought I heard Sakura giggle.

"So now that we have everyone here…" Yamato said. "Kakashi?" He looked at his comrade. "Should we discuss a plan of action?"

Kakashi looked at me thoughtfully. "No, not yet. Right now I'd like to see if we can find out exactly what Ayume can do. I'd like to test her powers against different types of chakra."

I bit back a groan. So here was the test they'd mentioned.

We gathered outside the small hut that Yamato had apparently created using something called "wood style." I stood alone, facing all six of them—the Priestess was still resting inside—and waited for their attacks.

"All right," Yamato said. "Let's test this jutsu of yours against my water and earth style. Kakashi says you first used it against fire style."

I nodded. "But I'm not sure how I did it before. I don't know if I can make it work again."

"Don't worry about it," Yamato said. "Just give it your best shot."

He made several hand signs, and then a burst of water shot out of the trees and straight towards me. I took a step back. My mind had gone blank. I held out my hands, concentrated, tried to find that power that had appeared the other day. But as the water came closer, I couldn't find it.

I squeezed my eyes shut, holding out my hands, and waited for the water to hit—but it didn't come. I opened my eyes and the water was suspended before me for just a moment before splashing onto the ground.

I exhaled. "Sorry," I said.

"Don't worry about it," Naruto said with a grin. "It took me forever to get the rasengan twice in a row. I'm sure you'll get it!"

I smiled at him vaguely, appreciating his attempt to cheer me up. Then I faced Yamato again. "All right, let's try it again!"

Three attempts later and I almost had it—using all my concentration, I'd managed to freeze the water that hit my hands, but it hadn't gone as far as I wanted it to. I breathed heavily, desperate to make this work.

"Maybe…you're just trying to hard," Sakura suggested. "It might not be achieved through intense concentration. The first time you tried it, it just seemed to come to you."

She was right. I'd been in a life and death situation, and so the powers had just sort of come to me. Maybe…

"Do it again," I said, straightening up, determined.

Yamato nodded, and his water jutsu came towards me again. I raised my arms and closed my eyes, and tried to find the powers that were inside me. They were there, I knew they were, I just had to find them—

I opened my eyes and the water hit my hands. The moment it touched them, the jutsu changed, and the water began to freeze, crackling and hardening. I closed my hands into fists and the ice began to break into deadly sharp shards.

I dropped my hands, and the shards fell onto the ground, breaking into little pieces.

The others stared at me in surprise. Sakura's eyes were wide. "It's like Haku's ice style," she said.

"Yes, that's just what I was thinking," Kakashi muttered, frowning slightly at me. He turned to Yamato. "Let's see what she can do to your wood style."

Yamato nodded and then put his hands together, interlacing his fingers. Immediately out of the ground rose a long, thick strand of wood that came arching down toward me.

I held out my hand and it touched my palm. The moment the two connected the wood began to change. It froze over, and then when I closed my fists the ice broke off and turned into shards.

"Well done," said Yamato.

"That wood style thing is cool," I said. "How did you do it?"

Yamato smiled. "Earth style mixed with water style. It was passed down to me from the first hokage." He looked over at his comrade. "Well, Kakashi? Just one thing left to try."

"Right…" Kakashi looked at me. "Let's try your power against lightning style."

He made several hand signs and then gripped his arm, and lightning gathered inside his palm. "Ready?" he said to me.

I swallowed nervously.

Kakashi ran at me, raising his arm for the blow. I raised my own hand, coming to meet him with my palm spread. I stepped forward, ready for the attack and prepared to stop it—lightning crackled towards me—

_Bam_! It was like something hit me in the chest, and a sudden memory came flashing through my mind.

_I was running, running through the forest. Faster. I had to get away from them. I had to, but I wasn't going to be able to. They knew I'd gotten away, and they weren't going to let me get far. They were going to bring me back to the village. _

_A hand grabbed my hair, pulling me to a stop. I screamed and kicked, but I couldn't get away. A voice spoke in my ear, their foul breath making me nauseous. _

_"Where d'you think you're goin', dearie?" _

_I yanked away from him, some of my hair getting pulled out in the process, and kept running. I wasn't going to let them catch me. I couldn't go back. _

_But then three ninja appeared out of nowhere, blocking my path. I cried out and stopped, breathing hard. _

_"We have orders to bring you back," one of them said. "We're not going to let you escape. So do you want to come quietly or do we need to drag you?" _

_I was surrounded. There were lots of them, seven at least, and I couldn't fight against all of them. It was too late. They were going to bring me back, and there was nothing I could do. _

_One of them grabbed me, and I kicked him away. More came at me, and I tried to keep them away, but how long could I hold off ninja like this? I whirled around and suddenly a fire style jutsu was flying at me. _

_"No, don't!" one of them yelled. "We need her alive, you idiot!" _

_I held up my hands as the jutsu came sailing towards me. The fire touched my hands, but when it did, it turned to ice. The jutsu froze and turned into ice shards that I sent flying at him. He managed to avoid them, but before I could run, another grabbed me from behind._

_I tried to get away, but their hold was far too tight, and they'd surrounded me again. I couldn't do anything else. I screamed. "Someone, please, help me!" _

_I thought it was over. I thought I would be forced to give up. And then…_

_"Lightning blade!" _

_Bright light obscured my vision, I felt the person behind me drop me into a heap on the ground, and I sat there, curled into a ball, trembling, as the sound of crackling lightning and the cries of my pursuers filled my ears and light flashed before my closed eyes. There were several thuds as heavy objects hit the ground. _

_The next thing I knew, I felt like I was flying, and I opened my eyes. I was being carried on someone's back, and they were running through the treetops. I thought for a moment that it was one of the shinobi after me, but they wore different clothes, a gray vest and a headband. _

_They turned their head slightly and looked at me. "Don't worry," he said, his voice low and reassuring. "You're safe now." _

I opened my eyes.

Several faces appeared above me: Naruto's, Sakura's, Yamato's, Kakashi's.

"What happened?" I said.

"You collapsed," Sakura said, helping me up. "You must have exerted yourself too much. Why don't you go get some rest?"

"Yeah," I said. "That must be it…I'm just kind of tired…"

"Right," Kakashi said. "We can continue this later, then."

And he went over to talk to Yamato. I looked over at him as I was ushered back into the makeshift house, frowning. I wasn't sure, until now, but…

I knew now where I remembered him from.


	6. Chapter 6

I sat in an enclosed room, leaning against one of the walls and looking out the window on the opposite wall. I remembered now, trying to escape my village. But why? Why had I wanted want to escape so badly?

The door to my room slid open and Sakura came in with Naruto. "Hi," Sakura said. "Kakashi-Sensei wanted us to come and tell you that we're leaving tomorrow morning. The Priestess is getting impatient," she added, rolling her eyes.

I smiled slightly. "Sounds good. Thanks."

"So are you…feeling any better?" Naruto asked, both of them sitting down facing me.

"Yeah," I said, "I'm fine. I don't know what happened. I just…I had a flashback, kind of, when I saw that lightning jutsu."

"A flashback?" Naruto said.

I twisted my fingers together. "I remembered something about my childhood. Kakashi…I knew him from before." I looked up at them. "He rescued me from a bunch of shinobi who were trying to capture me. I'd run away from my village, and they'd come after me to bring me back." I frowned, trying to recall more. "I think…he brought me back to the leaf village."

"Really?" Sakura said. "Why did you run away?"

I shook my head. "I don't know. I can't remember."

"Kakashi-Sensei never mentioned knowing you from before," Sakura said. "At least, not really."

"He doesn't tell us those kinds of things a lot, though," Naruto said, rolling his eyes. "He tends to keep to himself."

"Yeah, but we never questioned his genius because of that," Sakura said, glaring at her teammate.

"Of course not," Naruto said. "I'm just saying, if he knows Ayume you'd think he would have mentioned—"

"Well, maybe he just forgot—"

"Look, if you're going to bicker, can you do it somewhere else?" I said. "Geez, you fight like an old married couple. Are you two together or something?"

Both of them looked at me in surprise, and their faces turned red. They glanced at each other awkwardly, then away, turning away from each other slightly. "No, of course not!" Sakura said.

"Yeah, don't be ridiculous, we're not together!" Naruto said, scratching the back of his neck.

Sakura folded her arms. "Like I would ever date this idiot."

I laughed. "So then you don't like him? Could have fooled me."

"Oh, shut up," she said, scowling as Naruto started laughing. "I don't…there's someone else on our team who I…I mean…"

Immediately the atmosphere tensed in the small room, and Naruto and Sakura's blushes faded. I didn't know who they were talking about, but obviously I'd accidentally hit upon a sensitive subject for the both of them.

The door then slid open and a face appeared in the doorway. "Naruto, Sakura, Kakashi wants to speak with you both," Yamato said.

The two of them stood up silently and walked past Yamato out of the room. Yamato watched them go and I got to my feet as he looked at me, frowning. "Something wrong with them?" he asked. "They seemed upset."

"I don't know," I said. "We were talking, and then Sakura mentioned someone else on their team…" I shrugged. "They got really quiet. Do you know what she was talking about?"

Yamato folded his arms and sighed. "Well, I suppose I might as well tell you….Three years ago Naruto and Sakura's teammate, Kakashi's third student, Sasuke Uchiha, left their squad to join Orochimaru."

"Orochimaru?" I said. "I think I've heard of him."

"He's one of the three Sannin," said Yamato. "Legendary ninja. Quite powerful, and dangerous. We've been searching for him to take him out for quite some time."

"What was this guy's name?" I said. "Sasuke Uchiha? Like, from the elite Uchiha clan? If Orochimaru is so evil, why did Sasuke join up with him?"

Yamato sighed again. "Sasuke's brother, Itachi Uchiha, part of the—"

"Akatsuki," I said. "Right?"

Yamato smiled. "Very good. I see your memory is coming back. Itachi was the one who massacred the Uchiha clan, and Sasuke is after revenge. He's desperate for more power, and Orochimaru convinced Sasuke that joining him would get Sasuke that power."

"And Sasuke fell for it?" I said in disbelief. "He abandoned his village to obtain power?"

"That's exactly what he did," Yamato said. "I wasn't there for all of it, but…Naruto considered himself especially close to Sasuke. And Sakura cared for him a great deal. She still does." He looked over his shoulder as Naruto, Sakura and Kakashi as they stood together and spoke in low voices. "It's the thing that drives Naruto—he wants to bring his friend back to the village."

I looked at Naruto, who was nodding as Kakashi spoke to him, his expression determined. Naruto acted like an idiot sometimes, but he knew what was important where it mattered. I admired him for his determination, for having something to drive him toward his goal. I admired _them_, for having that to unite them and drive them as a team. I didn't know whether I'd ever had ties like that. I wished I had my memory, so I knew what drove me. What I wanted. Who I _was_.

Kakashi glanced over here and noticed me looking. His one visible eye met mine, and I remembered first seeing that eye when he'd saved me all those years ago. I wished I could remember more about those years, about the time I'd spent at the Leaf Village.

Kakashi stared at me for a moment longer, a probing look in his eye as he studied me. He frowned slightly, an odd look of frustration in his gaze, and then turned back to his team.

Yamato smiled at me and slid the door shut, and I sat back down on my bedding, sighing.

. . .

_I sat on the rooftop of one of the buildings in Konoha, staring up at the sun as it rose behind the cliff with the faces of all the Hokages carved on it. I sighed. The Hokage had told me that the people from my village would come and collect me today. I didn't want to leave this place. It was the first place I'd felt safe. Ever since Kakashi Hatake had rescued me and brought me here, I'd felt completely protected. _

_"Hey, girl!" someone called from the ground. Girl…because I'd never dared tell anyone my name. I looked down, and an ANBU Black Ops officer was standing down there, looking up at me. "Your village is here to collect you." _

_He removed his ANBU mask, and I saw that it was Kakashi, his silver hair gleaming in the morning sunlight. "Come on down," he said. "We'll make sure nothing happens to you." _

_I let him lead me to the front gate to the village, passing by merchants opening their shops for the day and people beginning to open their windows to the morning air. People began coming out into the streets, and I found myself clinging to my last few minutes here. _

_We neared the front entrance, and I saw several shinobi standing there among the leaf village ninja—ninja from my village. I gripped Kakashi's arm, my stomach clenching in on itself. He looked down at me, and I saw that his headband had been lifted up, revealing his usually covered eye. I blinked. His left eye was bright red, with three black dots within it. _

_Sharringan… _

_"Don't worry," Kakashi said. His eyes closed into a smile. "You'll be home soon. Everything will be fine." _

_I held onto his arm tighter as we came closer, not wanting to let go and walk straight back into the arms of the people I'd just tried to escape from. But what other choice did I have?_

_"Produce the girl, please," said one of the men once we reached the gates. _

_I stood behind Kakashi, holding onto him, and glared at the men. Kakashi looked back at me and gently took my shoulder, bringing me out into plain sight. I folded my arms and stood facing them, surrounded by Leaf shinobi for the last time._

_"Come with us, then," the ninja at the front said, looking at me. But I saw him eyeing Kakashi and his sharringan. With all these people, clearly both sides were prepared for hostility to break out into violence. But if I just went quietly, if I didn't resist, then…none of them would have to fight. No one would need to get hurt. These people…the ninja who had protected me…they would be safe. _

_"Go on," Kakashi muttered. _

_So I stepped away from him, toward the smoke ninja. I walked away from the place that could have been my home, and toward the people who would bring me back to the place where I lived for my powers to be utilized. _

_As we walked away from the Leaf village I looked back to get one last glance. Kakashi still stood there with the other leaf shinobi, frowning slightly. I met his eyes, and his expression faded to a look of resignation. He looked away, and I turned back to the road, sighing and accepting my fate. I figured that would be the last time I'd ever see the village. _

I was woken up by someone calling my name, telling me that we had to go. We headed out immediately. We had to run, to get to the Land of Air as fast as possible, so Yamato carried Katsumi on his back as we ran, drawing nearer and nearer to the Land of Air.

I didn't realize at the time what I would discover when we got there.

. . .

The Land of Air wasn't unlike the Land of Fire, except a lot cooler and a lot windier. I looked around as we went on, frowning slightly. Things were beginning to look oddly familiar, and as we passed through a small village I saw more things that were familiar…very familiar.

I had been here before. And as we continued on things started to come back to me. I remembered running through these paths before, I remembered standing in front of a food stand we passed and talking to friends…as we passed a fenced-in field I remembered standing in that field with other shinobi, throwing kunai at targets with them.

I pressed my hand against my forehead. Where were all these memories coming from all of a sudden? I remembered training near here, having lunch near here with friends…but why was I remembering all this now?

We neared the Smoke Village, and up ahead I saw several people standing together, two of them dressed in green, the other two in white. As we neared them, Kakashi called, "Hey, Gai!"

The four people before us came running to meet us. "Kakashi!" the tallest called back. We stopped in front of them and the tallest guy—dressed in a green jumpsuit and a green vest—grinned and gave us a thumbs up. I blinked at him. His grin was blindingly bright, and his black hair was in a strange cut, in a kind of bowl shape around his head. I realized that Rock Lee, who was standing next to him, was like a mini version of Gai.

The other two were more normal and looked familiar. I'd met them in the leaf village. There was a tall boy with long dark hair, wearing all white, who, from his eyes, you could tell was also a Hyuuga. There was also a girl standing next to him with brown hair, wearing a pink sleeveless vest and dark green pants. Neji and Tenten.

"Team Gai, reporting for duty!" said the kid in the green jumpsuit, his expression serious under his bushy black eyebrows.

"Hey, bushy-brows!" Naruto said, giving him a high five. "Neji, Tenten! Good to see you guys."

"We're almost to the Village Hidden in the Smoke," the tallest one—Gai—said. "We shouldn't run into any more trouble, but just in case, do you think we ought to split up?"

"Right," Kakashi said. "That way we can make sure we get the Priestess in safely without seeming suspicious. We'll take Katsumi to the front entrance and bring her in that way. Yamato, you take your team to the east, and Gai, you and the others go to the west."

We split into our three different teams, and soon we appeared before the village. At the front gates, as we walked toward the village, I remembered this. I remembered all of this. I'd walked through these gates dozens of times before, I'd seen these trees dozens of times before…This place was…

The moment before we reached the entrance, several blurred figures appeared before us, blocking our path.

We stopped abruptly and all of us drew kunai knives, stepping closer to surround the Priestess. There were several shinobi wearing masks standing behind another man who we'd seen before.

"Well, well," Jirou said, glaring at us. "You almost made it home, didn't you?"


	7. Chapter 7

**Thanks to my first reviewer, Laffy50! You inspired me to keep writing this! **

* * *

"Why are you trying to stop the Priestess from entering her own land?" Naruto demanded. "Just let us pass through—this is where the Priestess belongs. You're from the Land of Air, aren't you? You should know!"

Jirou smirked. "Oh, believe me, I know. But I'm not here for Katsumi."

All four of us turned to look at Katsumi, who smiled slightly and stepped forward, out of our circle of protection and toward Jirou. We watched her go in disbelief, as she walked calmly and determinedly toward Jirou and his men.

She turned toward us and smiled. "We lured you all here, you see," she said. "To bring someone home."

Jirou looked at me and nodded. "Well, Ayume? You must remember by now."

I stared at him, and the flood of memories I'd been holding back was suddenly released. I'd trained here, I'd lived here, I'd grown here, I'd found comrades here, I'd joined the Force _here_—this place, the Smoke Village—it was my home.

"Yes," I breathed. "I do."

The other four turned and stared at me in surprise. I bit my lip, looking down at the ground. "What are you talking about?" Naruto said.

"The village hidden in the Smoke is my home," I said, hearing the certainty in my voice as the words dropped from my lips. The others looked shocked.

"You mean," Kakashi said, staring at me, "you're..."

"Yeah," I said. "I'm the girl you saved all those years ago, who you brought to the Leaf Village."

"I thought that it might be you," he said, a nostalgic look in his eye. He looked over at Jirou. "But then why did people from her own village attack her?"

"Simple," Jirou said. "We needed to help her regain her memories. We sent shinobi from our village to track her and how her abilities were reappearing. And Katsumi played a pivotal role as well—she disguised herself as a priestess in need of protection in order to bring Ayume here."

At this point, Katsumi smiled and pulled off her crown and gown, revealing clothes unique to those worn by shinobi in the Smoke village.

Now I knew why I recognized this girl. She was a ninja from my village, and I remembered having a long-simmering rivalry with her while I lived here. She always acted like she was better than me, that she deserved special treatment because she was part of the well-known Fusika clan. Her disdain for everyone else drove me nuts.

"Right," I said. "I remember you now."

"Well then," Jirou said. "I believe it's time you come home now."

I stared at him. Come home. Right. I had been away from the Force for too long. It was time for me to return.

I began to walk towards Jirou.

Before I reached them, however, I heard Kakashi take in a breath and step forward. "Wait—" he called.

Immediately the ninja behind Jirou jumped in front of me, blocking the others. Kakashi stopped, scowling at Jirou, who smirked. "Nice try, Kakashi," he said. "But she's out of your reach…once again."

Kakashi's eyes narrowed.

"Don't do it, Ayume!" Naruto said from next to him. My eyes flickered to him and he was glaring at me. "Do you really want to go back to them? They tricked you and attacked you!"

"I...have to."

"After all we did for you? We're your team, Ayume! These guys are evil, I can tell! Don't trust them!"

I sighed. "Naruto, don't you have ties to your village? This is where I belong, where I have to go back to. I don't have a choice."

"But—" Naruto took a step forward, but his sensei held out an arm, stopping him.

"Leave it, Naruto," he said. He looked at me. "It seems she's made her decision."

I looked back at him as I followed Jirou into the village, and he was staring at me with the same frown as he wore the last time I walked away from him. I remembered the fear I'd felt the last time I'd returned to the smoke village, and the desire I'd felt to run back into the protection of the Leaf.

This time, however, I'd chosen to return. It wasn't up to Kakashi Hatake or anyone else to protect me. I'd chosen my fate. Besides, this was where I belonged.

Wasn't it?

I turned away from the others and entered my village.

Memories started to come back to me at once when I was back in the village. There were still a few things that bothered me, like there were a few memories that wouldn't resurface.

But as I walked around the village—a small, thinly populated place with many old buildings—I tried to push the nagging feeling aside.

"Hey, Ayume!"

I turned in the middle of the road to see three people running to meet me. They all wore black pants that went to their calves, black vests over green shirts, and belts heavily laden with shinobi weapons.

There were two guys and one girl, all smiling at me. "Good to see you again, Ayume," said the girl, with blond hair that was cut close to her head.

I stared at them until their names came back to me. "Oh, hi, Reiko," I said to the girl. I looked at one of the guys, whose black hair was tied back, his face bearing hard lines. "Hey Kaoru." I turned to the third male, who was bulky and blond. "Hi Tatsuo."

"So you remember us?" Reiko said, grinning. "Great. Because we need to get back to training as soon as possible."

"Master Aki has been impatient for you to get back," said Tatsuo.

"Good thing it was so easy to get you back here," a voice said. Katsumi strutted up to us, pulling her long black hair into a ponytail. She, too, now wore the black clothes of those on the force. She smirked. "Not that you put up much of a fight."

I rolled my eyes at her. "I forgot—you're on our team too."

"That's right." She folded her arms. "Look, the Master wants to talk to us. But specifically you, Ayume. He has some information for you."

The five of us made our way to the front building, where Master Aki, leader of the Force, lived and worked. It was a big building, the most rundown of all the houses in the village because it had been around the longest. And it felt familiar the moment I stepped inside it.

Katsumi knocked on the door to Aki's office, and then pushed it open. "Master Aki?"

An old man with a gray beard and deep-set brown eyes sat behind a desk at the far end of the room. As I looked at him more memories came back. I remembered this guy giving missions to my team, and before that, before he'd become leader of the Force, I remembered him working with us. Aiming our kunai when they weren't on target, having us attack him to improve our taijutsu, working with us to hone our skills with freezing jutsu.

_"Remember, you live to serve me and your other superiors. That is the sole use of your power."_

This guy was my sensei. My master. So I bowed with everyone else as we stood in front of him.

He rose, looking at me with his piercing eyes. "Welcome back, Ayume," he said. "I'm glad to see your memory has returned."

"Yes," I said. "It's good to be back."

A smile played across his face. "Good. In that case, you'll be able to go back to work."

"Um…yeah, I guess," I said.

"And you remember the mission I gave you before you lost your memory?" he asked. "The mission to invade Konoha and assassinate the Hokage?"

I froze.

_"That's right, Konoha. You are the only one who can complete this task."_

Konoha…

Konoha, with it's bright atmosphere, its bright people, its feeling of protection. The faces of the people I'd met there flashed through my mind, and the way they'd saved me multiple times…Naruto, the idiot with all the power and purpose and his huge heart, Sakura, with her pink hair and her fiery attitude, Kiba, Hinata, Yamato…and Kakashi, the genius ninja who had trusted in me and protected me. Could I really turn my back on them?

But it was my village. I had to remain loyal to it, just as the shinobi in Konoha remained loyal to the Land of Fire. This was my home, and it was my duty to fight for it. I didn't have another choice.

"I remember," I muttered.

"I want you and your team to finish this mission," Aki said.

I swallowed. "Um…I don't…"

Aki raised an eyebrow. "Yes?"

"I don't know if I can, sensei."

He sighed. "Ayume, let me remind you that you were allowed on the Force because of your unique abilities, the jutsu passed down to you in your clan, and you can just as quickly be thrown from it and back onto the streets. It's your choice."

"But—"

"Let me remind you that this is your home, not Konoha. You will remain here and serve the Force. Do you understand?"

I lowered my eyes. "Yes sir."

Aki nodded. "Good. You five will head out tomorrow. In the meantime, it's about time you show me the powers you've recovered."

We headed out to the training grounds, and for the next few hours we sparred, all five of us while Aki watched quietly from the background. I felt my fighting skills coming back full force, and using ninjutsu that I had regained I began to take down my teammates.

"Okay, stop," Aki called out after an hour. "Well done, everyone. Ayume, it seems to me that you are ready to go with your team to take down Konoha."

I exhaled. All five of us were rather beat up and exhausted, so I was glad to leave the training grounds and collapse on my bed in my apartment. It was nice to be home.

I stared out the window at the moon. Tomorrow I'd return to Konoha as its enemy, and I'd destroy and hope I had of being part of their village. And in return, I would get undying respect in my own village, as well as a place on the Force for the rest of my life, where my powers would be used for missions to protect the Smoke.

That was how my life was supposed to be. I was ready to accept it. I already had.


	8. Chapter 8

The following afternoon the five of us gathered and headed out. We ran through the forest the same way that I had gone just a day before. It wasn't long before we made it back to the land of fire, and by the evening we were crouched in a circle in the forest just outside the Leaf Village.

"Okay," Katsumi said. "Here's the plan. This is Ayume's mission"—she cast me a glare—"what we've got to do is make an opening from her to get to the Hokage. So." She drew a diagram in the dirt with her finger. "So, Tatsuo and I will go to the eastern side of the village, and enter through here…" she traced her finger through the dirt. "Then, Reiko and Kaoru, you two will enter on the western side. You'll go up through here…" she showed them. "And down this way with Tatsuo and I. Doing this we'll be able to stop anyone who comes to block the way and create a clear path for Ayume to get through. But just to be safe we'll enter at night, early next morning. Just before the sun rises. It will give us long enough of a cover of darkness but enough visibility to get the job done. Everyone understand?"

We all nodded.

Katsumi smiled. "Good. Then everyone run through a few mental simulations tonight, and get some rest. Be ready to go in early."

I sat up against one of the trees, gazing at the stars as the night passed on. I was too agitated to sleep. Reiko sat next to me. "What's up?" she said.

I half-smiled at her. "Some of the missions we've all been on are coming back to me," I said. "Remember that one time we had to recover that treasure for that guy?"

"I think it was just some stupid necklace," Reiko said. She rolled her eyes. "But Kaoru almost got killed because of it. He acts all strong, but he's actually not that great."

"I remember." I ran my fingers through my hair. "Do you really want to go on this mission?"

She looked at me and frowned. "What are you talking about?"

"I mean…" I sighed. "I don't know. I kind of got attached to the Leaf Village. I'm not sure I want to go and take it down."

She frowned at me. "So, what, you're going to break the rules and abandon the village just because you made a few friends? Ayume, we're your friends. _We're_ your team."

"I know that, but—"

"Oh, cut it out, Ayume." Reiko got to her feet. "You've never really put your whole heart into this team. It's about time you admit that this is where you belong."

She stalked off, and I exhaled, pulling my knees up to my chest. She was right. I was going to do this, and do it right. I wouldn't fail.

Early the next morning, I stood in the dim light at the front gate, waiting for the right moment. And then I ran into the village, gripping a kunai knife in my one hand. I remembered the way through the village to the Hokage's place, so I made my way there quickly, avoiding the few people I saw along the way.

No one appeared in my way. The plan Katsumi had come up with seemed to be working. I didn't see any ANBU Black Ops trying to stop me. I didn't see anyone trying to stop me.

That is, until I reached the halfway point towards Tsunade's place. A blurred figure appeared before me in the road, and I stopped abruptly. Kakashi stood in front of me, stance defensive, blocking my path.

"I had the feeling you would come back, Ayume," he said. "I know why you're here."

"Do you?" I gripped my knife. "Well, you can't stop me. I'm not on your team anymore, Kakashi."

"It doesn't matter whose team you're on," he said. "You're here to take down Lady Tsunade, and I can't allow you to do that. It's my duty to protect my village, just as it's your duty to serve yours."

"You don't know anything about my village."

"I might know more than you think." He inclined his head. "Ayume, you're being used. And you know it, too."

"I made a choice," I said angrily. "You said it yourself."

"That may be, but you're making the wrong choice." He glared at me. "Think about it, Shizuko. The Force you're on is corrupt, and they're controlling you more than you know."

"It doesn't matter," I snapped. "This is who I am. It's my duty!"

I raised my kunai and ran forward. I knew I probably didn't have a chance of beating him, but it was all I could do at the moment, until reinforcements came. I lunged toward him, but he disappeared the moment before I could hit him.

And then a kunai knife was at my neck, and I froze. "You won't be able to defeat me," Kakashi said. "Give up on your mission."

"I can't. I won't leave the Force. I can't break the rules."

I whirled around, bringing up a knife and swinging it around towards him, but his figure exploded into smoke when my knife hit it. A shadow clone. "Damn it."

I turned again and saw him reappear in the middle of the road. I narrowed my eyes and threw several shuriken at him, and he ducked, throwing a kunai back at me. I dodged, weaving hand signs. "_Lightning Style – flashing wave!_"

Lightning arced across the ground and toward him. There was a flash of light and an explosion of dust, obscuring my vision.

When the clouds faded, I could still hear the sound of crackling lightning, and Kakashi appeared out of the dust, the lightning blade flashing in his hand. He glared at me.

"Don't you wonder why you twice in your lifetime when you left the Smoke you were attacked?" he said, not moving. "Don't you wonder why you left the village at all when you were younger?"

"I don't know why," I said. "It doesn't matter anymore."

"That isn't true," Kakashi said. "You think I don't remember, but I do. I remember the look on your face as you were lead back to the Land of Air from Konoha. You were terrified. You didn't want to go back, and I think you know exactly why."

Because I only belonged to the Smoke Village for my powers to be used, to be a tool of the Force. I was no more than that, and I wanted out. I wanted somewhere where I could belong as a person, not just a shinobi.

"Like I said, it doesn't matter anymore," I snapped. "So come at me with the lightning blade if you think you can." I raised one hand. "There's a reason I was let onto the force."

"True," Kakashi said. "But I think you'll find your powers work a little differently against lightning style."

Before I could figure out what he meant, he ran at me, lightning arcing away from him in all directions. I took a step back in alarm, but I had confidence that my powers would stop his jutsu.

Once the lightning touched my hands, however, nothing happened. I couldn't freeze it. Why wasn't my jutsu working?

He came closer with his lightning blade, and my eyes widened. I jumped backwards, trying to get away, but my back slammed against a building behind me, and before I could move and get away Kakashi, with his ridiculous speed, brought his arm up, about to hit me with the lightning. I squeezed my eyes shut.

But nothing hit me. I opened my eyes, and Kakashi's hand remained an inch from me, crackling with lightning. I stood there, breathing heavily, still waiting for the attack.

Then, to my surprise, the lightning faded and disappeared. "Ayume," Kakashi said. "This isn't the only way out. You need to listen to me."

I gritted my teeth. "Why should I?" I said angrily. "You don't mean anything to me, none of you do."

I drew a kunai and was about to thrust it forward towards him, though knowing it wouldn't work, when a figure appeared behind him. His one visible eye widened.

Reiko stood behind him, kunai in hand, expression of glee on her face. "Go, Ayume!"

"No!" Kakashi said, stepping forward, but Reiko, fast as she was, stopped him again, giving me enough time to get away.

I ran, jumping across the top of the buildings, continuing toward the Hokage's office. I went faster than before—if I ran into someone else, I wouldn't have time to finish this. I had to complete the mission.

"_Ayume!_"

All of a sudden someone slammed into me, throwing me off the buildings and into the trees at the edge of the village. The person kept a tight lock around me, and we skidded across the dirt, coming to a stop in the middle of the trees.

Naruto's face appeared above me as I coughed, glaring at him. "What the hell is wrong with you?" I shouted at him.

He scowled right back at me, looking furious. Something was weird about his eyes—they weren't their normal blue, but were a strange bright red color, and the lines on his cheeks stood out more than normal.

"What is wrong with _you_?" he said back. His hands were on my shoulders, pinning me to the ground. Had he always been this strong? "You were part of our team—we helped you out, worked with you while you regained your memories. And these people are just using you, and you want to work for them instead?"

"I have to!" I said. "Kakashi got to you, too, then, huh? Well, I need to be loyal to my village!"

"The village that you tried to escape from twice?" he said, still glaring at me. "The village that ambushed and attacked you when you did? Didn't Kakashi-Sensei tell you any of this? You've got to remember, Ayume—when you first came here to take out the Hokage—were you really planning on doing it?"

I blinked at him. I remembered being issued the mission, and thinking…thinking…_This is my chance to escape_.

But they'd found me. They'd attacked me, they'd stopped me from getting out of the Force. And the reason I'd lost my memory was a jutsu they'd placed on me—so they could replace my memories with the thought that I had to remain loyal to them.

"I can't break the rules," I whispered. "They'd kill me. I can't abandon the mission."

"We'll protect you," Naruto said. "We did before, didn't we?" His eyes were fading back to blue. "Someone told me something once—that those who break the rules in the ninja world are scum, but…those would abandon their comrades are even worse than scum."

I blinked. He sat up, and I did too, frowning at him. "Who told you that?" I asked.

He smiled. "Kakashi-Sensei."

I lowered my eyes, staring at the ground. He was right…and I'd betrayed these people, who had been so kind to me. They were my team, and I'd abandoned them for a group of people who were corrupt and cruel.

"You're smarter than you look," I said to Naruto. I smiled at him.

He grinned.

We got to our feet just as two people landed in the forest before us. Kakashi and Sakura straightened up, facing us.

Sakura smiled at me, looking relieved. Kakashi, looking between us, nodded at his student. "Nice work, Naruto," he said.

Naruto folded his arms behind his head. "Ah, it was nothing."

Kakashi looked at me. "Well, Ayume?"

I sighed. "I...want to stay in the Leaf Village." I looked up at all of them. "I trust you guys. I want to be part of your team."

Kakashi's gaze softened. He smiled with his unique eye-close smile. "Good. In that case, we'll have to bring you to Lady Tsunade to work things out."

"Right." I scratched the back of my neck. "Uh, I'm sorry I stabbed you."

"No harm done." He turned slightly. "Let's go visit the hokage."


	9. Chapter 9

**It's been a while since I've updated, but this chapter is pretty long. Reviews would be lovely! **

The three of them all went with me to the hokage's office, and I felt my stomach twist nervously as we went inside. How could I possibly explain all this to Lady Tsunade, who several moments ago I had been bent on killing.

"Ms. Shizuko," Tsunade said in surprise when she saw me. She looked at Kakashi. "I was under the impression she had returned to the Land of Air."

"Ayume has renounced the Land of Air," Kakashi explained. "She wishes to remain in the Land of Fire, but she isn't sure she will be able to leave the Force."

Tsunade stared at me. I didn't let my eyes falter from hers. "You know," she said finally, "I knew about your mission. I hope you know that you never would have been able to kill me."

I blinked.

She smiled. "I always have ANBU workers prepared to defend me, and you wouldn't have been able to kill me anyway in a fight, if I could see it coming."

I lowered my eyes. "I didn't want to do it," I muttered.

"They most likely knew that as well," Sakura put in. "It's possible they sent her in knowing she'd be killed."

"Exactly what I was thinking," Kakashi said. "If she escaped alive, that meant they could continue using her as a human weapon. If not…well, then she wasn't strong enough to continue being used."

"That's…terrible," Naruto said, staring at me. I lowered my eyes.

"Not only that, but Ayume is a powerful asset due to her abilities," said Sakura. "Killing her could easily be considered grounds for a retaliation. They may have just been looking for a reason to attack us."

"Regardless," Tsunade said, looking back at me, "whether you were being manipulated by corrupt forces or not, you did come here with the intent to kill me." She raised her eyebrows. "How do I know we can trust you now?"

"I'll make it up to you, I swear," I said. "I...I don't want to go back to the smoke village." I glanced at Kakashi, then away again.

"The Force is corrupt," he said. "It would be better if she remained here for the time being and we figured out what to do about them later."

Tsunade studied me for a moment. She sighed. "Very well, if you're willing to take responsibility for her, Kakashi." He nodded, so she folded her arms. "All right. Sakura, Ayume, Naruto, you three can go. Kakashi, why don't you stay here and tell me all you know about the smoke village."

* * *

"So how old are you anyway?" Naruto asked as we strode away from the Hokage's building.

"Hmm," I said. "Twenty-four, twenty-five maybe? I'm honestly not sure. That wasn't something we really kept track of in my village."

"Really?" Sakura said. "You look younger than that."

"Uh, thanks, I think," I said.

"So now that you've got your memory back," Naruto said, "do you remember much about your clan? Like, how you got that freezing jutsu?"

I frowned. That had been bothering me, actually. I didn't know much about my clan, nor my jutsu. I also didn't know why, though effective on most other types of ninjutsu, my freezing powers had failed to stop Kakashi's lightning blade. Lightning jutsu was the main type of jutsu I could really use. So why could I not freeze it?

"I don't know much," I said. "Hopefully I'll be able to find out a bit more sometime soon.

Naruto and Sakura left, and I stayed behind, waiting for Kakashi so I could ask him some questions. He exited the building a while later, and I approached him. "What did Lady Hokage say?"

He shrugged. "She said that the smoke is, in fact, probably corrupt. But she also thinks that the land of air is planning something bigger, perhaps a way to take down the leaf village."

I nodded, unsurprised. "Um, Kakashi..."

He raised his eyebrows.

I looked up at him. "Why did my jutsu not work against lightning style?"

"You mean your freezing jutsu?"

"Yes. It's supposed to be a powerful jutsu passed down through my clan, right? It works on every other type of ninjutsu, so why does it have no effect on the lightning style?"

"To be honest, I'm not entirely sure," he said after a moment. "But despite your lack of hand signs, it seems to be an earth style jutsu. Earth is inferior to lightning." He sighed. "Then again, it may just be that that particular jutsu has never worked against lightning, for no real reason."

"But how did you know that it would have no effect on lightning?"

He sighed. "I've met others from your clan before. Jirou, the man we fought earlier...I believe he's from your clan."

My eyes widened. "But then...does that mean the rest of my clan is in the hidden smoke village?"

He frowned. "I don't know if there is anyone else in your clan left, Ayume. It was almost completely wiped out a long time ago."

I blinked, taking this in. I vaguely remembered hearing something similar to that, while I was living in the smoke village. But I'd known so little about my clan that at the time I hadn't thought much of it.

Things were different now. I wanted to become stronger and hone my skills, so I could prove myself. So I could live up to my clan and make it proud, and leave behind a legacy that meant something.

I looked up at Kakashi, determined. "Teach me how to use the chidori."

He looked surprised. "What?"

"Teach me how to do the chidori," I repeated. "I need to become stronger so I can uphold my clan, and so I can protect what's important to me. I specialize in lightning jutsu. I'll have it mastered in a week. Please."

He stared at me thoughtfully for a long moment, then, to my surprise, smiled. "You really are a remarkable shinobi, Ayume."

I felt myself blush.

He nodded. "All right. I'll teach you. Just promise you won't go rogue like the last person I taught it to."

I grinned. "I won't."

* * *

Word of my failed mission and my near betrayal of the leaf spread quickly, and I soon realized that I was being avoided. Everyone I'd met here earlier was holding me at a distance, and I couldn't really blame them.

There were a few exceptions to this-Naruto and Sakura were still willing to be around me, and then the other exception was Shikamaru.

He came up to me soon after I'd returned and asked me to tell him what had happened, then listened as I explained.

"Well, I suppose you did the right thing, in the end," he said once I was finished. We sat across from each other at a table outside. "I've heard some nasty things about the land of air. It doesn't surprise me that they'd send you in to die."

"Yeah," I said. "It didn't surprise me much, either."

He rested his head in one hand, his expression indifferent, but his eyes gave him away-he was thinking hard. "The hidden smoke have been known to infiltrate villages before," he said. "Missions like yours, without warning or a concrete plan. It seems like they may be trying to take down the Land of Fire from the inside."

I frowned. "In that case..."

He nodded. "You'd better be prepared for a whole lot of suspicion and distrust. For all we know, you renouncing the smoke was just part of their plan."

"I take it you don't trust me particularly, either, then," I said.

He leaned back in his chair, looking at me thoughtfully. "I dunno. It's not like you've given me any reason not to, andNaruto and master Kakashi seem to trust you. And Naruto..." He smiled. "He has this unique way of changing people he meets. I wouldn't be surprised if he's changed you too."

I smiled back.

From that point on, Shikamaru was a friend and an ally. Beneath all the laziness and boredom act, there was a brilliant ninja. I'd gained a newfound respect for him.

Soon after that I began training with Kakashi. Learning to use the chidori was more difficult than I'd anticipated, but Kakashi was a good teacher. He was patient as I struggled, urging me to work harder on it when I felt like giving up.

Change in chakra form was a hard thing to get just right-after gathering up what seemed like an immense amount of chakra, you had to carefully control it so that it discharged in the right amount-still controlled so it wasn't wild but strong enough so it exuded enough power.

Once I had the chidori down, though, I would be able to use it to make new lightning style jutsu, more powerful than I had before.

"It's an incomplete jutsu," Kakashi had explained to me. "It requires too much speed, and therefore you can't see your opponent's counterattack. Once you have it down though, using change in chakra form you can create new lightning jutsu."

"Is that why you use the sharingan?" I said.

"Yep. It completes the jutsu. You can read your opponents moves."

I frowned. "Where did you get that sharingan anyway? It's a hand-me-down, right?"

He looked away, a strange expression clouding his face. There was a sad look in his visible eye, but before I could ask he said, "Try it again. You've almost got it."

Sensitive subject, I guess. But it only made me more curious.

A week of training later, I slammed my lightning-laden fist into a tree, which broke in half and collapsed onto the ground.

I stood before the wreckage breathing heavily, my fist still raised. That was the third time in a row that I'd managed to use the chidori successfully, and after three strikes my chakra was exhausted, and so was my body. Kakashi stood off to the side, and he smiled at me. "Looks like you've got it, Ayume. I'm impressed, I didn't expect you to master it so quickly."

I laughed breathlessly, wiping the sweat off my forehead with the back of my hand. "What did I tell you?"

I straightened up, intending to ask what was next, but a sudden dizziness invaded my head and my legs failed me. Before I knew it I was falling backwards to meet the ground.

Kakashi flickered and appeared at my side immediately. "Ayume-"

"I'm fine," I said, wincing as I sat up. Kakashi put his hand on my shoulder, steadying me. "You have to be careful not to exhaust your chakra," he said. "For now don't go beyond three uses of the chidori. If you push it too far-"

"I know," I said. "I'll die."

He smiled. "Just use it sparingly and you'll be fine."

I went to a place close to the training grounds for lunch. I hadn't been there for more than ten minutes, however, when Naruto and Sakura slid into the seats on the other side of the table, sly looks on their faces that I didn't like.

"So," Naruto said, "we noticed you've been hanging out with Kakashi-Sensei a lot lately."

"Yeah, is there something you want to share with us?" Sakura said.

"Of course not," I said, picking at my food and trying to deny the heat that was creeping up my face. "Kakashi is teaching me new ninjutsu, that's all."

"Oh, on a first name basis, are you?" Naruto said, waggling his eyebrows.

"Oh, shut up!" I said. "Uzumaki, do you really need me going into how you constantly flirt with Sakura even though she's turned you down dozens of times? Or how Hinata is crazy about you but you're totally oblivious?"

Naruto blinked. Sakura was blushing. "How do you know about-" she stammered.

"It's a small village, word gets around." I lowered my eyes. "Like how I nearly assassinated the hokage, for instance."

Naruto and Sakura exchanged looks. "Look, Ayume, I'm sure that things will change once you prove yourself," Sakura said.

But that was the problem...how DID I prove myself? It wasn't enough to have a powerful kekkei genkai, I needed to be stronger as a shinobi.

"Yeah, and in the meantime we're here for you," Naruto said with a grin. "We'll always be your team, no matter what!"

I smiled at him, appreciating his effort to cheer me up. I was a shinobi-I couldn't just sit around feeling sorry for myself. Just because I was off the Force didn't mean I could go soft.

I began training on my own again, using the chidori to strengthen my skills and my ninjutsu. It was tiring work, but slowly I began to make progress.

A week or so later I was called in by Lady Tsunade. I came into her office and Naruto and Sakura were already there, turning to look at me as I came inside.

I joined the two of them. Lady Tsunade looked at us. "I have a mission for you," she said.

"Where's Kakashi?" said Naruto.

"Late as usual, probably," Sakura said, rolling her eyes.

"Actually, he's not coming," Tsunade said. "He has his own mission, so the three of you are going alone. It's an A-rank, but I think you three should be able to handle it."

We nodded.

"Is Yamato not going with us either?" said Sakura.

Tsunade shook her head. "Like I said, you three will be going alone. It's a mission of capturing a shinobi, but this particular person is not a skilled shinobi, so I'm sure you three will be able to handle it." She looked at me. "I'd like you to lead this mission, Ayume." She smiled. "Kakashi tells me you've been training your ninjutsu. He speaks quite highly of you. I'm looking forward to seeing how you carry put this mission."

I felt my face turn red. Naruto and Sakura stared at me.

"Um-why are we taking this person here, milady?" asked Sakura.

"This man has intel on the Akatsuki," she said. "At least, we hope he does. It shouldn't be difficult to capture him, like I said, but try to do it quickly."

She gave us some information on the man so we'd be able to identify him, then sent us off. We left through the front gates and were quickly off toward the village hidden in the grass, where, supposedly, the man we wanted was in hiding.

As we made our way there, I found myself deep in thought, going over all my jutsu in my head. I was determined to lead this mission well and protect my teammates. I was determined to prove the powers and my skills that I'd regained after finally getting my memory back.

What I didn't have back yet was my knowledge about my clan. I needed to know about my clan, and it's history…and how many of them were left. If it was just me and Jirou, then we needed to carry on the clan's legacy.

Why hadn't Kakashi told me sooner about the fact that Jirou was part of the Shizuko clan? He knew we used the same jutsu. He might have even known that Jirou had the name Shizuko.

Forget it. Things would hopefully become clearer soon.

In the meantime, we came closer to the village, and stopped to forge a plan.

"All right," I said, the three of us crouched among the bushes and facing each other. "The village we want is right up ahead. We're going to have to ask around, but I think at least one of us should stay at the edge of the village in case the guy tries to get away."

So Sakura stayed at the edge of the village and Naruto and I headed in.

We began to ask around with the description we'd gotten, but it was ages before we got our lead.

"That guy? Yeah, I think I saw him earlier…" a guy holding a hoe said, frowning and rubbing his chin. He looked up, over our shoulders, then frowned and pointed. "Uh huh, that's him over there."

We whirled around.

A man standing nearby was wearing a cloak that hid his face, but when we looked at him I saw him draw a kunai.

The knife came flying toward us, and I stepped in front of the civilian, gripping a kunai and blocking his own. He seemed to look at me for a moment, considering fighting me, then instead turned and ran.

"Coward," I muttered. "Get him!"

"Right!" Naruto said, and the two of us bolted after him.

I tossed kunai at the guy, but he dodged and kept running. Naruto flickered and appeared before the guy holding a kunai. "Hold it right there!" he said. Then his expression of anticipation disappeared and his eyes widened. "Wait—you're—"

The cloaked guy suddenly jumped forward and sunk his fist into Naruto's stomach. Naruto's eyes widened and he fell to his knees, eyes even wider. The cloaked man kept running, and I rushed after him.

He reached the edge of the forest, and I gripped my kunai. If she came out now, then—

As if answering my thoughts, Sakura suddenly lunged out of the forest, her fist glowing with green light. "CHA!"

She nearly nailed the cloaked man, but he jumped out of the way just in time. The hood of his cloak, however, came flying off as he leapt backwards, arms crossed. He landed lightly several feet away from Sakura, and I got a good look at his face the first time.

I blinked.

Naruto came running up, shouting, "Ayume! Watch out—this guy is—"

"Yeah," I said. "Jirou."

Jirou smirked. "Good to see you again…Ayume."


End file.
